Business Aviation Regional Forums

NBAA Regional Forum Lands at Long Beach Airport

March 4, 2013

Business aviation supports jobs, helps companies succeed and connects communities – all attributes that were on display at NBAA’s Regional Forum held at California's Long Beach Airport (LGB) on Feb. 28.

The Long Beach Regional Forum provided an effective advocacy platform, highlighting the industry’s diversity and importance, both nationally and at the local level. The event showcased strong support from local officials, including Long Beach Mayor Bob Foster, Councilwoman Gerrie Schipske and Long Beach Airport Director Mario Rodriguez, among others.

This year’s event was attended by more than 1,700 people and featured 78 Exhibitors and a dozen aircraft on static display. Aircrafts such as the Phenom 300, Gulfstream G450, Cessna Citation Sovereign, were open for Attendees to view up close.

The day before the forum, an aviation career event was hosted jointly by NBAA and the Southern California Aviation Association. It featured a panel of industry professionals who discussed some of the many careers available in business aviation, such as a pilots, maintenance technicians, flight attendants, operations specialists, dispatchers, sales and marketing professionals – as well as steps to pursue those careers, both for those entering the work force for the first time and for those looking for a career change.

The forum itself began with a session titled “IRS Imposing Federal Excise Tax (FET) on Managed Aircraft: A Client’s Perspective,” which was presented by Dave Weil from Flight Department Solutions and Nel Stubbs from Conklin & de Decker. The session detailed how recent IRS guidance and audit activity may negatively affect aircraft management agreements and make them subject to FET, and what Attendees can do to participate in NBAA efforts to seek modified IRS guidance to prevent agreements being subject to a FET.

The forum’s general session, titled “A View from Washington, DC,” featured NBAA President and CEO Ed Bolen, who shared his perspective on important political and policy developments, including “sequestration,” or the automatic budget cuts for federal agencies that went into effect last week, and potential impact of the situation on the business aviation community.

The next session, titled “Rethinking Business Aviation Training,” featured a presentation by Dave Ryan from Medimpact Healthcare Systems, who discussed what the NBAA Safety Committee is doing to evaluate and improve entire business aviation training processes. He noted that the committee is sending surveys to operators and vendors, the findings of which will help form recommendations on ways to improve training processes.

The forum continued with two afternoon sessions that focused on important operational topics. The first one featured a presentation by Jim McClay, from NBAA Air Traffic Services, titled “Traffic Flow Management and West Cost Operators.” McClay shared information on what West Coast aircraft operators can do to better understand and anticipate airspace issues that can affect and possibly delay their operations, including utilizing the many online resources that are available.

The final session was a presentation by David Shackelford from Shackelford, Melton, & McKinley titled “Operational Control: Staying Legal and Safe.” Shackelford provided Attendees with insights on how to understand the differences between “operational control” and “pilot-in-command authority” and how to ensure compliance with legal requirements and industry best practices.